A catfish used Lincoln Lewis' photo to entice victims. Now the culprit has received more jail time.

Content warning: This story includes discussion of suicide that may be distressing to some readers. 

In 2011, Lydia Abdelmalek made a series of decisions that would change the course of numerous lives. Only recently did she face the consequences of her crimes.

The Melbourne woman impersonated various television soap stars and used their image and a fake Facebook account to lure in mostly female victims online. Once she gained their trust, Abdelmalek would then stalk, harass and intimidate the victims.

From May 2011, she was pretending to be Home and Away actor Lincoln Lewis, and the UK's Danny Mac, and the catfishing continued over the course of multiple years.

After months of being tricked into thinking she was dating Lewis online, *Emma (whose real name has been disclosed), managed to get in contact with the real Lewis and get to the bottom of the situation at hand. The pair had been in similar circles during childhood and primary school, so they had an old mutual friend to help set up the phone call. 

In court testimony, Lewis said Emma was "rattled and a bit panicked" once they finally spoke. 

"Lincoln, I've got to ask you something and I really hope it's the answer that I'm hoping for because if it's not I don't know what I'm going to do," Lewis recalled Emma saying.

Lewis said he was "a bit thrown by that".

"What's going on… just ask me," he said.

"Linc, I've thought for the last couple of months that you and I have been dating," she said.

Lewis recounted in court: "I said, 'What, no, what are you talking about?' and then that's when she started to sound really stressed and panicked and started sort of mumbling a bit and then started saying, 'No, tell me you're lying'. She said, 'Linc I don't know who this is now. Linc this person has photos and videos of me. I thought I was dating you. I thought you were the one asking for these things. I thought you were the one I was sending all this stuff to'."

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Lewis said Emma described the content she had sent as "intimate" and "very revealing" photos and videos.

Abdelmalek would use these images and videos to blackmail Emma and also harass and threaten her family and loved ones. It got to the point where Emma was receiving up to 80 messages a day, threatening her and her family and asking when she was going to end her own life.

In a later court trial, the judge said: "She was once held hostage on the phone and this person on the line said 'If you hang up, we're going to send those intimate photos to your boss' and she was kept on the phone for four hours. Her sister found her under the bed sheets crying, saying 'Please, please have mercy'."

It was a pattern Abdelmalek used continuously over the next few years, with her five victims.

But it was also a pattern that left all the victims - including *Emma - deeply traumatised.

*Emma was eventually diagnosed with PTSD and in 2018 she took her own life.

"She went from being this vivacious, bubbly, larger-than-life character who loved everything and loved her job, to somebody who became severely anxious, depressed and traumatised," the victim's sister said in court.

After the phone call with Emma, Lewis was contacted by another woman who thought she had engaged in a serious online relationship with him.

"Many months later" he was contacted, recounting to police: "She told me a very similar story where someone who I didn't know was pretending to be me and was forming or had formed online relationships with these girls. She told me that the person was creating Facebook accounts in my name, editing my existing social media outlets and giving out my actual home address."

It was at this point that Lewis was also concerned for his own privacy and safety, given his personal information had been breached as well.

"It made me feel twice as panicked as before. There was nothing I could do about it and I felt pretty powerless," Lincoln said about the ordeal. "It kills your vibe, it ruins your day. It makes you feel powerless and it makes you feel s**t. It just takes away your happiness because now I've got this constant thought in my mind that something's happening that I'm powerless to stop or even find out."

One of the five victims - *Jess - also suffers from PTSD. 

Jess and Emma never met in person, but they spoke regularly over the phone after Abdulmalek's arrest. During the trial, Jess recalled how Emma texted her saying she couldn't cope, just days before her suicide.

"That's something that will stay with me for the rest of my life," Jess told the court. "This person has blood on her hands as far as I'm concerned."

In 2019, Abdelmalek was sentenced to a one-year and nine-month minimum term for stalking her victims. Her legal team immediately appealed the decision, which resulted in a lengthy court process that was finalised this week. 

Judge Claire Quin had warned Abdelmalek and her lawyers "a number of times" that she may impose a more severe jail term if they continued to pursue the appeal.

In the end, Abdelmalek was sentenced to more time behind bars after losing an appeal - re-sentenced to four years in prison. With time served, she must now serve two years and eight months before she will be eligible for parole.

During the appeal, Emma's family said the prolonged legal process had delayed their grief and left them re-traumatised. Emma's sister also called for the court to use the appeal as an opportunity to increase Abdelmalek's sentence.

Judge Quin said: "This matter proceeded despite an overwhelming prosecution case and full knowledge of the additional stress that flows to the victims as a result. The appellant created a web of false identities and characters. Despite the content of some of the material being reflective of soap opera, it was not fantasy - it was real and impacted real people. What may begin as lighthearted, quickly can escalate to have significant consequences for the psychological wellbeing of those to whom the risk is directed."

Described as "calculated and cruel", Abdelmalek has not expressed remorse throughout the legal matters.

On Twitter this week, Lewis issued a statement, thanking the investigation team and those who came forward to bring Abdelmalek to account.

"It's hard finding the proper words or to articulate the feeling of relief that the cruel and horrendous actions committed by this person starting over a decade ago has finally ended with justice prevailing," he wrote.

"From my end, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to the detectives and prosecution team who've worked so tirelessly over the years on this case with the greatest amount of professionalism, dedication and empathy. Words aren’t enough for the incredible work you've done."

Lewis also said he hopes the longer sentence and end to the case will help the victims and their families receive closure for all they've endured.

Emma's family flew from interstate to hear the re-sentencing verdict.

In a statement, they said to the ABC that "justice has finally been served" in this cruel crime.

"It is also very much a very sad day for our family that our beloved daughter is not here with us. Had Ms Abdelmalek not tampered with her life, we are confident that our daughter would be living a happy and fulfilling life. She was deeply distressed and in utter despair," they said.

"It is disappointing that during this long drawn out court case, Ms Abdelmalek has shown no ownership, no accountability, no remorse for her crime."

*Names have been changed for privacy/legal reasons.

If you think you may be experiencing depression or another mental health problem, please contact your general practitioner. If you're based in Australia, 24-hour support is available through Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300 22 4636.

Feature Image: Instagram/Facebook.